Thiruvananthapuram : In the absence of an official Open Forum for the IFFK 2012, the Federation of Film Societies of India (FFSI) has decided to conduct a parallel Open Forum during the 17th edition of the IFFK. The parallel Open Forum , named after P .Govinda Pillai, who passed away recently , will function from Sunday onwards at the venue close to the main venue of IFFK , the Kairali- Sree complex.

P. Govina Pillai, a well known Marxian ideologue, was the then chairman of Kerala State Film Development Corporation ,was also an expert in film criticism and he had fully promoted the concept of Open Forum at IFFK way back in 1998.

K.R Mohanan, film maker and president of the Kerala unit of FFSI said that the decision to name the venue of parallel Open Forum after P. Govinda Pillai ( P G Pavilion )had been taken to honour his memory .

The Chalachithra Academy has decided to do away with the open forum from this year onwards in the light of criticism from certain quarters saying the forum had become a place of squabble instead of healthy interactions on better cinema. Well known film makers Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Shaji N. Karun had come out recently against the open forum saying it had lost credibility and relevance.

From the inception of IFFK sixteen years back Open Forum had been alive , though it had lost its sheen due to unhealthy debates sometimes . The organizers of IFFK this year have decided to compensate with the introduction of ‘ Meet the Director ’ and ‘ In Conversation ‘ in the absence of an official open forum.

The Delegate Forum of IFFK , a voluntary group of delegates also has come out against the organizer’s decision to cancel open forum. R. Ajayan , Secretary of Delegate Forum has said that democratic principles should be followed in deciding matters of IFFK as people’s participation who love cinema is the hall mark of IFFK.